Former Newcastle United favourite on the move

Former Newcastle United star Hatem Ben Arfa will leave Nice this summer.

The 29-year-old, capped 15 times by France, becomes a free agent on Friday and he has been courted by a number of clubs, including Southampton, Sevilla and Lyon, after an impressive season in France’s Ligue 1 brought 18 goals last term.

Nice president Jean-Pierre Rivere was quoted by Canal Plus’s Twitter account as saying: “Hatem Ben Arfa will not be in Nice next season.”

Ben Arfa scored 14 goals in 86 appearances in his stint at Newcastle, initially on loan, from August 2010 to January 2015.